For the 27th consecutive year NASCIO is proud to honor outstanding information technology achievements in the public sector. Forty-four finalists have been named across 11 award categories. The award recipient in each category will be announced at the NASCIO Annual Conference in Salt Lake City this October.

NASCIO member states, territories and the District of Columbia were eligible to submit nominations; finalists were selected by the NASCIO Awards Committee, comprised of state and corporate members, from over 100 nominees. All submissions can be view in the Awards Library. Congratulations to the finalists and thank you to all that participated in the process.

To submit information for the next edition, contact Meghan Penning, NASCIO Connections editor.

Smart Government is Secure Government: Successful Cybersecurity,
An interactive day devoted to cybersecurity

Calling All Corporate Partners

There is still time to sponsor the Annual Conference!A limited number of sponsorship opportunities are available to NASCIO corporate members until August 28. This is a great opportunity to promote your brand while helping your team build relationships and get involved with NASCIO. Find a complete listing of sponsorship benefits and register to sponsor on the conference sponsor page.

The following sponsor levels are still available on a first-come, first-served basis until August 28:
Pinnacle - 1 available

Silver - 7 availableBronze - 1 available

Don't Forget to Give Back

Donations made through the NASCIO Give Back program will support the Sunnyvale Afterschool Program in their important work by providing funding to upgrade the program's computer lab and purchase learning acceleration software to help students build a strong foundation of literacy skills and core math concepts. Learn more and donate!

NASCIO Issues Guidance for State CIOs on IT Accessibility

To mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, NASCIO released a brief on accessibility in information technology procurement. This is the first brief in a two-part publication on accessibility in procurement. Part II will include states in practice and adoption information for states.

This initial brief introduces a new, policy-driven approach to information and communications technology accessibility for state CIOs, procurement organizations, and vendors. Policy-Driven Adoption for Accessibility (PDAA) can help strategically drive a culture of accessibility, generating accessible products and services. The benefits of using PDAA tools include improving marketability and reducing risk to both vendors and procurement organizations by addressing inclusiveness and equal opportunity in the digital age.

In early August,
NASCIO sent a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) and Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) to urge them to hold a hearing on the Geospatial Data Act of 2015 (S. 740) introduced by Sens. Hatch (R-Utah) and Warner (D-Va.).

S. 740 would require federal agencies to share federally developed or acquired geospatial data in an interoperable fashion. Geospatial data sharing is currently required by executive order and federal regulations. Though these rules exist, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports that the vision for the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), defined as the technology, policies, and practices that enable the sharing of national geospatial data, is far from materializing. One of the weaknesses GAO pointed out was the lack of enforcement and oversight. The Geospatial Data Act of 2015 would provide congressional oversight in order to build a robust NSDI.

Senate Delays Cybersecurity Bill until SeptemberCongress is officially out for the August recess but before they left town, they made sure to pack their post-recess agenda. Shortly before the recess, the Senate turned its attention to the Cybersecurity Information Security Act (CISA) (S. 754) which aims to get industry and the federal government to share cybersecurity threat data in real time. State governments would also be privy to this arrangement; states could both receive cybersecurity threat data and also share information with the federal government to combat cybersecurity threats. CISA would also exempt cybersecurity threat data from state disclosure laws.

Much of the contention in the CISA debate centered on the balance between cybersecurity threat data sharing and personally identifiable information privacy concerns. Discussions on amendments was also an issue for Senate members; ultimately, it was agreed that the Republicans would offer 10 amendments and Democrats would offer 11 once the upper chamber resumes their work on CISA after the August recess.

NASCIO will continue to monitor the progress of this debate. Read more about the CISA debate here.

Busy Schedule Awaits Congress in Fall Including Action on Budget and TransportationIt's been pretty quiet on Capitol Hill this month but this will change quickly in September. Next month, the fiscal year will end which means that Congress will have to forge a FY 2016 budget path in order to keep the government open and operating. Both chambers' appropriations committees have passed all 12 appropriations bills; the House is a bit further along in the process. However, large differences remain between the upper and lower chamber and reconciling those could prove problematic if not impossible. Complicating matters, the House is only in session 12 days and the Senate 15 in September; they must complete a budget agreement within this time frame to keep the government open. Many have said that a continuing resolution (CR) is the most likely funding avenue. A CR would mean that state governments would not see meaningful increases in federal programs.

Other issues on the fall schedule could include funding for transportation and addressing debt ceiling. The current transportation funding and authorization law, MAP-21, was funded for 3 months shortly before recess because Congress could not reach consensus on a new transportation bill, Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act (DRIVE Act) (S. 1647), that would authorize transportation programs for six-years and provide $478 billion in funding. The current 3-month funding for MAP-21 will expire at the end of October.

Welcome to NASCIO's New Director of Government Affairs

Meet Our Newest Members

New Chief Information Officer:

Phil Wittmer, Chief Information Technology Officer, Kansas

New Corporate Members:

EY

ForeScout Technologies

Integris Applied

Lochbridge

PCC Technology Group

Veritas

Committee and Working Group Updates

The Broadband and Telecommunications Committee last met on July 22. Timothy Pierce, FirstNet's region 5 lead, joined the call and shared information on FirstNet's current activity and outlined details about the future process. Specifically, Pierce shared the sequence of events that would occur should a state choose to opt-out of FirstNet. During the call, committee members decided to keep a record of all questions related to FirstNet on the NASCIO Community; questions will be posted in late August. The next committee call will take place September 29 and will discuss SCADA security.

The Enterprise Architecture and Governance Committee and the Data Management Working Groupheld a combined monthly call on August 13 where the current status on data management issues brief #1 and #2 were reviewed. The first issue brief is in the final stages and has been uploaded to the community library for review. It builds on previous publications on data governance and sets the stage for forthcoming issue briefs that will make up the library of resources NASCIO delivers. If you have additional ideas and input please contact Eric Sweden at esweden@NASCIO.org, or respond to the discussion item on the NASCIO Data Management Online Community.

The Health and Human Services Working Group last met July 29 where the group heard from Marcus Rennick on the Public Health Community Platform.

The August call for the
National Innovation Forum was in collaboration with the Security and Privacy Committee and the Broadband and Telecommunications Committee and focused on security issues surrounding the Internet of Things.

The Security and Privacy Committee's August meeting featured a presentation from Agnes Kirk, CISO, state of Washington, and Dan Lohrmann, Chief Strategist and Chief Security Officer for Security Mentor, on securing the Internet of Things. The September call will feature a presentation on cyber analytics. Please note: Outlook meeting requests will no longer be used for this committee - email mward@NASCIO.org for more information.

The State IT Procurement Modernization Committee's September meeting will feature a discussion on NASCIO's Policy-Driven Adoption for Accessibility white paper series with Sarah Bourne, director of IT accessibility, Massachusetts Office of Information Technology; Jeff Kline, program director, Statewide EIR Accessibility, Texas Department of Information Resources; and Jay Wyant, chief information accessibility officer, State of Minnesota (MN.IT Services).

NASCIO: Making Connections

NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson attended and spoke at the National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Summit in Seattle, August 4-6 and to state budget directors at the National Association of State Budget Officers Annual Meeting in Stowe, Vt., August 11-12.

NASCIO Committee and Working Group Schedule

Health and Human Services Working Group - Wednesday, August 26 at 3 p.m. Eastern

State IT Procurement Modernization Committee - Wednesday, September 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern

Founded in 1991, DLT Solutions delivers best of class technology solutions to federal, state, and municipal governments and businesses from its headquarters in Herndon, VA. To achieve that mission, DLT has tightly integrated itself with some of the most prominent IT software and hardware manufacturers in the world including Autodesk, Google, NetApp, Oracle, Quest Software, Red Hat, SolarWinds and Symantec, among others. With its product portfolio, multiple procurement vehicles and award-winning track record, DLT confidently supports public sector clients in the technology implementation required to achieve their agency missions. DLT was recently honored as number one in the Term Software License category in the GSA IT Catalog of Top IT Contractors on GSA Schedule 70. For more information visit www.dlt.com.

Website:
www.paloaltonetworks.comPalo Alto Networks is leading a new era in cybersecurity by protecting thousands of enterprise, government, and service provider networks from cyber threats. Because of our deep expertise, steadfast commitment to innovation and game- changing next-generation security platform, more than 13,500 customers have chosen Palo Alto Networks and this number grows every day.

Our platform natively brings together all key network security functions, including firewall, URL filtering, IDS/IPS, and advanced threat protection. Because these functions are purposely built into the platform from the ground up and they natively share important information across the respective disciplines, we ensure better security than legacy products. As a result, organizations can safely enable the use of all applications critical to running their business, maintain complete visibility and control, confidently pursue new technology initiatives like cloud, SDN and mobility, and protect the organization from the most basic to multi- faceted and complicated cyber attacks - known and unknown.

SAIC is a scientific, engineering, and technology company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world in national security, energy, environment, health and cybersecurity. Since it was founded in 1969, SAIC has become a trusted advisor to both government agencies and businesses, while designing, developing, implementing and operating IT solutions and services. SAIC's IT solutions and services comprehensively address complex problems and enable its clients to operate more efficiently for the benefit of its customers or constituents.

SAIC's success has been primarily attributable to maintaining highly experienced staff, its keen understanding of the businesses segments it serves and its unwavering commitment to provide solutions that are product agnostic across all technologies.

SAIC is headquartered in McLean, Virginia and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.saic.com.